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(No Model.) I I k J. G. HAENTGES & J.. P. FISHER.

BOOT 0R SHOE STRETGHER.

No. 347 ,485. Patented Aug. 17, 1886.

Witnesses. In'v entors UNITED STATES PAT NT Orrlcn.

JOHN G. HAENTGES AND JACOB P. FISHER, OF BUFFALO, NE YORK.

BOOT OR SHOE STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 347,485, dated August 17, 1886.

Application filed January 8, 1886. Serial No. 187,958. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

-Be it known that we, JOHN G. HAENTGES and JACOB P. FIsHER, citizens of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot- Stretchers for Taking the Vrinkles out from the Back and Front of Boots, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known that boots worn by farmers or others where they are liable to get wet and wrinkle and become hard and stiff when left over night are in a condition so that the wearer finds it almost impossible to get them on in the morning.

The object of our invention is to overcome this objection by producing a device that can be easily introduced or taken out of a boot for the purpose of raising the instep and forcing out that portion above the instep at the front of the boot and that portion just above the heel at the back of the boot sufficiently to take out the wrinkles, and hold the boot in that condition until required for use, all of which will be fully and clearly hereinafter described, shown, and claimed, by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which is represented a vertical central section through the device.

In said drawing, 1 represents the operatinghandle. It is provided with a screw portion, 2, adapted to screw into a nut, 8, secured in a recess in the under side of the instep and front stretcher 3.

The upper and lower portions of this device may, if preferred, be made of wood, in which case the upper and front stretcher portion 3 and the heel or back portion, 4, should be made solid; but it may, if desired, be stamped of heavy sheet metal or made of cast-iron.

In the construction of this device the parts 3 and 4 are first turned out solid in one piece, in a well-known last-makers lathe orlathes for turning irregular forms, and is made in the well-known form adapted to fit the inside of a boot. After this it is cut into the two parts 3 and 4 by means of a band-saw or other equivalent saw, the saw cutting in the line of a circle on the line 11. A suffieient recess is then cut out of the curved surface of the part 3 to receive the nut 8. The part 3 is then perforated to receive the handle 1, which passes down through it and through the nut 8, as shown, and then into the socket 5 in the lower porion, 4'. It will be noticed that the two surfaces 10 and 11 are each made in the form of an arc of a circle, running from the toe to the opposite end or back of the device, so that the part 3 (which is separately removable) may be easily put into a boot or readily drawn out, as shown by the dotted lines 9, after which the lower part, 4, is easily removed. In the lower portion is a socket, 5, adapted to receive the lower end of the handle 1.

The operationof the invention will be readily understood from the drawing. The upper and lower portions of the stretcher being introduced into a boot, all that is required is to turn the handle 1, so as to lift up and forward the instep or front portion, 3, in the direction of the dotted lines 6. It is not intended to stretch the boot further than to take out the wrinkles, neither is it intended to merely stretch the instep or heel portion alone; but the invention is adapted to take the wrinkles out from the lower front portion of the leg or bend of the boot, also that portion at the back just above the heel, and hold such portions in that position until the boot is required for use, the device being made high enough to reach above the instep and heel portions.

By means of this invention a pair of boots may be kept in shape and as free from wrinkles as a pair of.new boots until worn out. Be-

sides, they are more easy to put on and more comfortable for the wearer.

A boot and shoe differ materially from each other in one particular in their construction. Almost any stretching device may be easily introduced into or taken out of a shoe, while a boot and its long leg are very different, and a stretching device is not so easily introduced or removed. Our invention is designed to obviate this objection, and hence the curved form of the surfaces 10 and 11 is an important feature, because itadapts the several parts to be more easilyintroduced or taken out, as will be readily understood from the foregoing de scription.

Ve are aware that a stretcher consisting of an upper and lower portion, and provided with a screw and handle for causing them to separate, and thereby stretch the instep of a boot or shoe, is old and well known, \Ve

therefore do not claim such, broadly; but

\Vhat we do claim as new is- A boot stretcher for taking out the wrinkles 5 from the front and back of a boot, consisting of the upper removable portion, 3, having its lower surface, 10, in the form of an arc ofa circle, and provided with a screw-handle, 1, and

nut, S, secured in a recess in the under side,

10 substantially as specified, in combination with the lower and heel and back portion, 4, having a correspondinglycurved portion, 1]., and a socket, 5, to receive the lower end of the handle, substantially as and for the purposes described.

JOHN G. IIAENTGES. JACOB P. FISHER.

\Vitnesses:

JENNIE M. CALD\VELL, ARTHUR J. SANGSTER. 

